Rare, predatory and fantastically beautiful: 'blue dragons' appear on a beach in Texas
As if we don't have anything to worry about right now - Mother Nature will always find something to surprise you with. A marine gastropod called a blue dragon has been discovered on a beach in Texas. What is known about these beautiful but potentially dangerous creatures? Tells Only in Your State.
As summer approaches, many Texans are eagerly awaiting the opportunity to go to the beach. In particular, in South Padre Island, Texas, residents annually look forward to hatching the Atlantic Ridley sea turtles.
But a much less friendly creature has turned up on Padre Island National Seashore. A rare blue dragon sea slug was first spotted on local beaches a few weeks ago.
The small nudibranch Glaucus atlanticus is only about three centimeters or less in length - but don't let the size fool you. Contact with a slug can result in a painful and potentially dangerous bite.
Glaucus atlanticus feeds on animal particles such as the physalia ("Portuguese man-of-war"), a tentacled marine invertebrate whose bite is poisonous enough to kill fish (and sometimes humans). This unique hydrozoan is actually made up of many different multicellular organisms that work together and function as one. Externally, the creature resembles a jellyfish.
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Instead of producing their own venom, blue dragon slugs obtain it from the creatures whose body parts they consume. They store stinging nematocysts in their tissues for protection from predators.
Symptoms of a Glaucus atlanticus bite include nausea, pain, vomiting, acute allergic contact dermatitis, erythema, urticaria, blistering, and post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation. Physalia causes a similar reaction.
So if you see a blue dragon sea slug on the beach, keep your distance! It's good that this practice has become a habit for us in these crazy times.
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